What inspired you to pursue aging research?
I have been interested in understanding how memory works since I was an undergrad, but it was only as a postdoc that I began to wonder why memory is impaired in old age. Age-related memory decline is unique, as it will affect almost everyone, yet we have very few treatments to reverse or prevent memory loss and understand very little about why it happens. It is an exciting problem that could have a huge impact on the world!
In your view, what does AFAR mean to the field, and what does it mean, for you, to receive an AFAR grant now?
I am grateful that AFAR exists to advance research across the different domains of aging. AFAR supports a wide range of groundbreaking research on aging, including work on age-related cognitive decline, and is a well-respected funding program across fields. The annual grantee conference is a fantastic, interactive, and exciting experience and a chance to make connections with other aging researchers across the country. As an early-career PI, it is an enormous honor for me to receive this funding, which will allow me to expand my research on age-related memory decline to a new field: memory updating.
What is exciting about your research’s potential impact?
Age-related memory decline will impact almost everyone who is lucky enough to live into old age, yet we know very little about why memory is impaired and even less about how to treat this issue. My work focuses on an understudied aspect of memory that is especially vulnerable to aging: memory updating. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that support this process will advance our understanding of age-related cognitive decline and provide new avenues for treatments to prevent or improve memory in old age.
How would you describe your research to a non-scientist?
Most human memories are updates and modifications to things we have already learned. In the lab, we typically study brand new memory formation, so we understand very little about how this updating process works. Although there is evidence that aging individuals across species have difficulty updating memories, we know very little about the mechanisms that underlie this decline. My lab has developed a memory updating task to address this specific question and we think that excessive repression in the old brain prevents the animal from reactivating and changing the right brain cells in response to a memory update. We hope that correcting this mechanism will improve memory flexibility in old animals.
